How are you celebrating Jewmas?

andydr's photo used through Creative Commons license

One of the joys of living in L.A. as opposed to, say, Arkansas, where I wound up spending Christmas 2001, is there are lots of non-Christians here. In 2001, I had to drive the entire state of Arkansas to find a single, sad Chinese restaurant within which to have Jewmas dinner along with a handful of pagan Arkansans, including a table of adorable goth youth trying really hard to be rebellious. I truly believe that the Jade Pavillion restaurant in Fort Smith and the Waffle House in West Memphis were the only two establishments heathen enough to remain open in Arkansas on the birthday of our lord.

But here, in Los Angeles, with a disproportionate number of hellbound, there are a wealth of options for Christmas dining. Might I suggest the bacon-wrapped matzoh balls at The Gorbals? (Honestly, I have no idea if they are open on Christmas but the idea of dining on Manischewitz-braised pork belly does appeal.) Me, I am leaning toward the traditional movie and Chinese food in an as-yet-undetermined location. I tried Hop Li one year and the crowd out front alone was like a Bar Mitzvah on steroids. Any recommendations for the Jewmas dinner are welcome.

I dunno if Yang Chow is open Christmas Day, but that’d be a great opportunity for some of their slippery shrimp. Other great opportunities for slippery shrimp: Birthdays, funerals, days ending in “Y,” celebrating the biological respiration of oxygen into carbon dioxide.

My lady friend and I are big fans of atheism, so we get to celebrate whatever we want (at least until we visit our very Catholic families). This year we made delicious Hanukkah and Kwanzaa cookies.